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Online Video For Business – 3 Reasons Your Company Should Implement in 2010

The Internet started as a text-only medium of communication with largely bulletin boards and eventually e-mail. It progressed to be a more interactive experience and expanded into millions of homes, beyond college campuses and technology institutes. Websites started including pictures, navigation, music, and other enhancements to appeal to viewers. By the end of the 1990s, Internet sites still relied mostly on pictures and sleek navigation to appeal to users. As YouTube skyrocketed in popularity, the integration of online video to professional Websites started to become more common place. Now, offering a Website with only pictures is like running a rental store with only silent movies; Web users and customers expect a more interactive experience, complete with videos of products, services, or people. Websites that include videos offer users more detailed information about products and services, give businesses an opportunity to control the way information is delivered, and increase the conversion rate of visitors to customers.

Captivate Your Audience and Capture Your Customer

One of the great advantages as a Web user to Websites with videos is the ability to see in more detail what one is buying before the purchase, or to learn more about a service before inquiring further. Before purchasing a movie ticket, viewers usually watch a trailer for the movie, showing them more about what they are paying to see. With an apartment complex or hotel, rather than just see lifeless still photos, videos allow people to see the community closer to the way they would actually see it if they were to visit in person, though inevitably somewhat idealized. Seeing people enjoying amenities through a web video is a lot more interesting than seeing pictures, though, because pictures are less capable of capturing the human element or evoking emotion. Another great benefit is seeing a product demonstration video about how a technology product actually works, step by step, so that the potential customer can see how easy it is to use, allaying fears about it being overly complicated or too technical to setup properly. A long, detailed text page with a few pictures about how the product works is a nice addition to video, but not a substitute. Unlike a site with just numerous navigational sections, pictures, and text, a video allows a business to control the way information is given to potential customers.

Better Control of Your Message

On an old Website, the only way to display information was in a logical fashion where the business hopes that visitors click around the site in some sort of sequential order. If a person clicks through the pricing section first, without seeing what the product does, or what services are offered, they may just close the site and go elsewhere. But if they have a video they can see on the home page about what a great product or service the business is offering, they will be less surprised when they see the price. Whereas with a standard Website, the visitor clicks around at will without having much direction, a prominent video on the home page gives them a starting point before looking for more information. It allows the business to control the way the information in the web video is displayed and how it is presented, giving back some control while at the same time giving the site visitor a lot more information that is helpful for their decision-making process as well, which makes them more likely to purchase a product or service from the business.

Improve Sales Conversions

While tracking of such statistics across a broad swath of the Internet is difficult, numerous sites have attested to Web videos converting visitors to clients at a much greater rate than sites with just text and pictures. One of the more well-published studies, by FindLaw (LawyerMarketing.com), indicated that visitors go to an average of 4.8 Websites to find an attorney, but when lawyers added video to their sites, the number dropped to 1.8. In other words, the presence of online video made visitors likely to select a lawyer much more quickly. The Discovery Channel Store did an independent study when the company added video to their e-commerce store and experienced an increase of 78% in sales when customers viewed the product video. A company called iAds integrated their video ads for Tandberg Video Systems, which had a conversion rate of 0.75 to 1.00 percent, but with videos the conversion increased to between 1.5 and 3.0 percent. Numerous such stories are available and there is no doubt that offering video on Websites helps businesses compete more effectively and gain more customers.

With the advance in broadband Internet connections and the high penetration such technology has seen in recent years, most customers have access either at home or at work to high-speed Internet, allowing them to view online videos that give them more information about products and services, help them make decisions with greater confidence, and give businesses greater tools to demonstrate what they offer. In the years to come, companies from all industries and across the Internet will be adding videos to compete more effectively and market themselves with greater confidence. The companies that adopt last will be losing business to companies that have cutting edge videos and quality products or services to offer. Ultimately, the reputation of a company and the products or services they offer will still remain the long-term key to success, but marketing remains an important part of any company’s ability to attract new customers. The professionalism and class of the videos offered online will be the key to competing effectively for years to come.